Would you recommend the product? No |
Price you paid?: Not Indicated
| Rating: 0

Pros:

First two ingredients are named meat products.

Cons:

Minimum acceptable meat content.

The first two ingredients in the food are named meat products. The first is chicken - inclusive of its water content. Once this is removed, as it must be to make a dry food, the ingredient will weigh around 20% of its wet weight. It is thus unlikely that it is the true first ingredient in the food, and it is likely to be more accurately placed much further down the ingredient list. Since the second ingredient is a meat meal, however, this is of limited concern.

The next ingredient is barley, a decent quality grains. It is of some concern to see chicken fat as the fourth ingredient irrespective that this is a food for small breeds: research at Purdue University has identified fat within the top four ingredients of a dry dog food as a factor increasing the risk of bloat in large breed dogs. Smaller breeds are untested. Egg product is the next ingredient. We would prefer to see the use of whole eggs. We appreciate the use of whole brown rice in the food.

Beet pulp is controversial filler. It is a by-product, being dried residue from sugar beets which has been cleaned and extracted in the process of manufacturing sugar. It is a controversial ingredient in dog food, claimed by some manufacturers to be a good source of fibre, and derided by others as an ingredient added to slow down the transition of rancid animal fats and causing stress to kidney and liver in the process. We note that beet pulp is an ingredient that commonly causes problems for dogs, including allergies and ear infections, and prefer not to see it used in dog food. There are less controversial products around if additional fibre is required.

There is a second meat meal ingredient in the food 8th on the ingredient list. This is a fish meal, however, and we fail to find any assurance on the manufacturer's website that the ingredient is not treated with Ethoxyquin. Ethoxyquin is a chemical preservative, banned or heavily regulated in human food, and believed to be carcinogenic (and is commonly added to fish meal ingredients). This manufacturer does make assurances about ethoxyquin-free sources for one of of its other products (the Chicken Soup line), thus we would consider it prudent to ask for a similar assurance about this product prior to using it.

Overall, this product appears better than many produced under the Diamond label, and many of the ingredients used appear to be good quality. It is limited confidence in the meat content of the food that prevents us awarding a higher rating.